It’s been a little while, but the F4F Q&A #127 Recap is now LIVE! It was one of the shortest F4F Q&A streams in history, but Q&A #127 was filled with fast-paced news and announcements, along with answers to such destiny-fulfilling questions as:

WHERE will First 4 Figures be making their second U.S. appearance of 2019?

WHY might there be a fundamental change to the way F4F does business regarding product types and sizes?

WHEN should we expect the first All Might PVC to go up for order, and how frequently will the next ones come out?

HOW can you enter to win a free Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition? [PLEASE enter the contest!]

WHAT does the production packaging look like for the Solid Snake SD PVCs?

ARE any changes being made to Meta-Ridley before production?

…and more!

Announcements and The Week in Review:

• Chocks is tired and hasn’t had anything to eat, so all the hard work is on Alex tonight!
• “The Doctors Are In!:” The new segment of the show where viewers can unload all of their problems on Chocks and Alex
• Viewer JM’s boss is a micromanaging nut-job–Chocks is laughing because he can relate
• The Dutch heatwave is going to be nothing compared to the oven heating tests that F4F statues undergo today
• Chocks and Peggy are super-busy right now and will be occupied for the foreseeable future
• Why are F4F resin statues so expensive? F4F has actually been working on something that’s in the backburner that will explain the reasons for why the resin prices are what they are; this is a result of seeing people questioning the prices of resin statues frequently on social media
• If you don’t think your CS request has been responded to, be sure to log into the F4F website and check the My Tickets section to make sure that CS hasn’t already repsonded and the notification of response wasn’t simply eaten by your E-Mail carrier
• No updates on Varia Suit Samus coming to the US–only 400 pieces have shipped to the US thus far, but the factory wants to emphasize getting Bowser out the door now before completing the remainder of the Varia Suit Samus statues
• There’s a super-secret licensor meeting that Chocks and Alex both need to be on at 12:30 AM, so this week’s Q&A will be shorter than usual
• The Q&A Recaps by Dabid will probably be posted a few days later than usual during non-launch Q&As to give Dabid some down-time and to encourage members to watch the Q&A Live
• Sonic & Tails pre-orders and Amaterasu PVC pre-orders are ongoing 
• Artorias Bust, Jet Black, Mini Aku Aku Masks, Mimic, Shovel Knight Player 2, Phoenix Wright, Alphonse, Psycho Mantis, Mario on Yoshi and Meta-Ridley Exclusives are also all still up for order right now
• None of the staff can believe it, but there WILL BE a new skin on the F4F website in the next week… or months. Or two-and-a-half-years. But now the team believes! If everything goes according to plan, the new skin for the site could appear on or around Monday, July 29th! Alex is tempted to show a preview, but it’s been 2.5 years–what’s another couple of days?
• To be clear, this will be a completely new theme for the home page–not an entirely new site; the product pages will be exactly the same
• “There’s always a silver lining. There’s always one. Always one.” –Alex Davis
• New home page will have a much greater emphasis on social media connection
• It’s event season! Peggy and Chocks have been absent a bit from the club for this reason. ACGHK has just happened in Hong Kong. Peggy is doing great the show! Positive, quite good crowd with constant flow. A lot more positive this year than it was last year.
• NYCC 2019 is not on First 4 Figures’ radar because EGX and MCM seems to be a deal that’s too good to be true this year being on back-to-back weekends; however, so far it appears that First 4 Figures has been accepted to exhibit at PAX West in Seattle at the end of August 2019 [WHAT?!]! F4F isn’t prepared, but has said they’ll take the booth even though they’re not ready! It’s gonna be cray-cray with all the events that F4F is doing this fall!
• First 4 Figures had such an awful experience at Emerald City Comic Con in March, so they’re going to find out if it was the crowd or F4F that was at fault at PAX West next month!
• All Might PVCs still planned for pre-order for the end of the year, hopefully
• Painted Sonic PVC debuted at ACGHK, along with the Sonic PVC business cards for the first time!
• First4Figures wants to do PAX East and West every year, and that’s the plan because they’ve been trying for so long
• Riots in Hong Kong are something that needs to be addressed in the Q&A! It was actually quite scary that there was rioting going on in Hong Kong just one stop away from Alex & Chocks in Hong Kong during the last episode of Let’s Playsearch Sekiro.
• Fundamental changes to the way First4Figures does business upcoming. The new norms as far as quotes from the factory for 1/4 statues are so high–the quotes will make collectors blush. There has to be some change moving forward in terms of what we expect, and changes have to be made and embraced. The new norms mean things have to change, which is a real reality being faced. Product diversity including PVCs and plush will help supplement the original resin business. The glory days of huge figures at low prices is something that is just not tenable anymore. This is a very interesting time to go through in the business.
• Why did Alex tell collectors that in order to make Amaterasu TF PVC that Celestial Descent version and resin counterpart have to be made as well? It’s because the F4F customer base is varied and the resins can help subsidize production of the PVCs. The new norm at F4F will be PVCs and resin statues supporting each other if and when it can happen.
• Collectors who will pay the price regardless of what it is if the quality is there are not the norm
• Roy Mustang sneak peek feedback: “Enough! The less said the better.”
• The extent to which Richter Belmont was sneak peeked was a mistake; now the tweaks are at the point where there is no real answer since everyone’s version of Richter can be a little different and not everyone will universally agree.
• Production video of Guts posted this week; Guts is coming along well at the factory
• Horns for the Spyro Life Size Bust shown in the club last week–a Grand Scale Bust (GSB) at around half the scale will be available as well
• Let’s PlaySearch is paused for now; Alex is taking a break from them to recharge during convention season
• 52:00
• Midna production will be a long journey with a lot of complicated pieces to be made; factory is working on the bases first; the journey has now started
• Sonic Mania giveaway winners will receive their prizes soon
• Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition Photo Contest is still ongoing in the OCC! [PLEASE ENTER!!! We need more photo entries of F4F and/or Boom8 Sonic pieces!]
• First 4 Figures was named as it is because it was originally named as a distribution company
• No changes will be made to the DE cases for True Form Midna
• No changes will be made to Meta-Ridley; it’s all approved by Nintendo will be starting pre-production soon; all of the changes to Alphonse really drives home how long making revisions pushes things back; Alex doesn’t want to take pieces long outside of their schedule to make changes
• Something F4F has been working on that Alex believes is a great thing for the company–a game-changer!
• The actual produced packaging for the Metal Gear Solid SD Solid Snake PVCs debuts on the show for all three versions of the PVC figure, including EX/Stealth/Neon Green; all 3 versions have different colors on the box (Black/Blue/Green with Metallic Red)

Temptation Thursdays TT Polls:

• TT 160 Black Clover: 269 Votes; 87 ‘Yes’ and 182 ‘No’; Share out the poll and push for this if you want to see Black Clov
• TT 161 Street Fighter II Ken PVC: 234 Votes; 177 ‘No’ and 57 ‘Yes’
• Bloodstained TT Next Week!
• Hunter X Hunter TT in 2 Weeks! A lot of people have been asking for this!
• This week’s hashtag for a chance to win Rewards Points next week is #F4F (That’s it! Keeping it nice and simple for once!)
• Jagabee Sea Salt chips get a solid 7/10 in Chocks’ Snack Review!

The Q&A!:

• If Alex sees enough people wanting side characters such as Petey Pirahna Plant or secondary characters from Spyro or Crash Bandicoot, he’ll look into them
• Player 2 Shovel Knight was the first Companion Piece; Alex hasn’t looked at the Mini Aku Aku Mask sales in a while, but Chocks says that the sales were “okay”
• Normal ovens are used for the oven heating tests at the factories
• No need for polls to gauge demand for Modern Knuckles, Super Shadow and Tails statues
• Shadow on his motorbike needs more than 150 reacts for consideration for an official poll
• Let F4F know if you want to see a Mimic SD; two Dark Souls SDs already in the works past Ornstein SD
• Oven Test Process: Put completed statue into the oven and set the oven to 50 degrees Celsius for 48 hours and then see (wearing gloves) whether or not the statue has leaned during the aging/heating process; time-lapse video will be very interesting
• Sailor Moon Character Poll? “Indeed.”
• Should do a Sekiro TT for a statue line now that the PlaySearch videos are over
• Going into production on Psycho Mantis pretty soon
• Chocks finished Stranger Things Season 3; Alex finished Ozark Season 1 and has started watching Chernobyl
• “Did we do a Mario Kart TT that didn’t do particularly well?”; The TT poll fared poorly when posted
• Waiting on Warp Star Kirby Edition Size
• Guts bust could be interesting
• Alex says Silver Age All Might PVC pre-order will be early next year or around Christmas time; want to get each figure in hand and then do the next one–probably one every 4 months; too expensive to do all the PVCs at once–costs a lot
• Riza Hawkeye? Let’s see how the sales for Mustang goes.
• Still early to say what the first My Hero Academia release will be after All Might
• Chocks has been told to keep reminding IT about needing the time-frames for Amaterasu Validation
• Alex thinks Castlevania Symphony of the Night will be one line and not split into heroes and villains
• Alex thinks multiple coupon codes can be used on the same new order
• Prices now are so fucking crazy that Alex is absolutely gobsmacked by the prices he’s being quoted by the factory; Alex really had to talk about strategy with Chockles and John because high production costs are the new norm
• Can’t offer any guess as to what a Darksiders 1:6 War or War on horse would cost since prices have jumped drastically at the factories; Alex thinks War could perhaps be at 1:8 scale and still not lose any level of details
• Maybe Dark Souls could be the next PlaySearch? Alex has no idea yet.
• “I don’t know what you’re talking about. No idea what you’re talking about.”
• No Soul Calibur pre-order this year
• F4F has one senior concept artist and a bunch of other concept artists as well
• Any animals up for pre-order before New Year’s Eve? “Maybe.”
• Keeping an eye on other companies’ offerings is a hindrance
• Will hopefully go back and award owed bonus points for things like Lucky Cat Mario and Majora’s Mask when someone new joins the team in September; the jobs that should be done but take loads of time can be sorted through then
• Spyro Reignited Resin Statue will go up for pre-order on Friday 8/2! Alex is excited about this one! Chocks seems excited about the big Sparx as part of this piece!
• Reignited Spyro hasn’t come out of nowhere–it was teased a long time ago and first sneak peeked as part of the Christmas sneak peeks; will be displayed at GamesCom 2019 next month; this will be the first Reignited Spyro resin; Spyro license was first obtained in 2016 and announced in 2017
• No Q&A on August 16th because of GamesCom